Survival EMP (Book 2): Solar Winter by Lopez Rob

Author:Lopez, Rob [Lopez, Rob]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Post-Apocalyptic | EMP | Survival
Published: 2018-03-20T04:00:00+00:00

22

The nature museum in Freedom Park was a modern, glass-fronted building. The wooden deck outside looked forlorn, with moss already growing on the picnic benches. Inside the bleak, cold interior were display cabinets with stuffed cougars and bobcats. The few live animals that had been kept for children’s amusement were gone now, the cages torn open. Probably ended up on a grill.

In the Butterfly reading corner, in the only room with a carpet, Rick found Sally and Harvey, huddled under blankets.

He and Josh were returning from a successful shoot at the park, with two geese carried upside down.

“You made it, then,” said Rick.

The nurse and the security guard both looked ill.

“Yeah,” was all Sally could say.

“The last patient, did he die peaceful?”

Sally shook her head. “I’d like to say he did, but …”

“It’s okay,” said Rick, not caring for the details. “When did you last eat?”

“Just this morning,” said Sally. “No, wait. The stove ran out of gas. Maybe it was last night. I think we were eating soup powder on its own. Or trying to. We’re out of water.”

Rick crouched down to examine them. They were both pale, and he thought they might be suffering the onset of hypothermia, but neither were shivering. He touched Sally’s brow to see if she had a fever.

“I’m not sick,” she said. “Just tired.”

“That’s the same thing, right now,” said Rick. He uncapped a bottle of water. “Drink.”

Harvey looked to be in worse shape. All the fire had gone out of him. Rick had seen the symptoms too many times before: Post Traumatic Stress. The long days and nights at the hospital spent in despair, the humiliation, the pointlessness of it all. The endless waiting.

The Colt Python lay at Harvey’s side. Rick picked it up and noticed one bullet less in the chamber.

He no longer needed to ask what happened to Mr. Moore, the last patient. The agonizing story was written all over Harvey’s face.

Rick kept the revolver. In Harvey’s present state, he was likely to eat a bullet himself.

“Run into any trouble on the way down?” asked Rick.

“No,” said Sally.

“You okay to walk?”

“Where to?”

“Our place. It’s not far from here.”

Sally smirked. “You gonna let us eat goose?” she said, eyeing the catch in Josh’s hands.

“Sure,” said Rick. “It’s Thanksgiving.”

“Today?”

“All day.”

All trace of humor died on Sally’s face, and tears formed in her eyes. “Oh my God,” she said.

“What?”

“Thanksgiving,” she murmured, like she couldn’t quite believe it. “Every year I go to my sister’s place in California, to visit my niece. Every year.” Sally broke down, sobbing. “She’s only five. I don’t know what’s happened to them.”

Rick watched, impassive.

“Damn all this,” choked Sally. “Why did this have to happen? What the hell did we do to deserve this?”

Rick was no expert on cosmic justice, but he didn’t think a more pragmatic answer would be well received, so he stayed silent. Harvey, meanwhile, kept up his five-thousand-yard stare.

“Dad, I’ll wait outside,” said Josh.

Rick caught the faint look of disgust on his face. The boy was hardening.

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